Body retaining self loosening cover and can



Jan 6 C. MacLEOD JR Y Ln: M BY @m A EY;

United States Patent O BODY RETAINING SELF LOOSENING COVER AND `CAN Cameron MacLeod, Jr., Glen Moore, Pa.

Application June 1, 1956, Serial No. 588,671

1 Claim. (Cl. 22043) This invention relates to an improved container, and more particularly to an improved container for oleaginous, punctuous or waxy materials, and especially for wax type shoe polish.

Materials of the type mentioned must be packaged in a manner to exclude air to the greatest possible extent coupled with the ability to readily open the package or container easily and without likelihood of disturbing the contents or soiling ones fingers or clothing.

An object of this invention is to provide a container of the type described having a body and a cover which are easily sealed and easily separated.

Another object of this invention is to provide a container comprising telescoping body and cover elements 'easily assembled in sealed relation.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a container including telescoping body and cover members in which the cover member is deeper than the body member.

A further object of this invention is to provide a container which, when assembled in sealed condition, may be easily opened by tapping the base of the cover on a table or other support.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a container comprising telesc-oping body and cover members having mating frusto-conical configurations.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a container comprising telescoping body and cover members wherein the cover member has a depending skirt portion.

An additional object of this invention is to provide a container having telescoping body and cover members alfording means to clear air or gas therefrom during assembly to closed position.

A still further object of this inventionl is to provide a container comprising telescoping can and cover elements having a relatively large area of surface contact when closed, but readily separable.

Another object of this invention is to provide containers of such construction that the lowery portion of the cover of one willl fit over the upper portion of the cover of another to facilitate the stacking of the containers.

These and other objects will appear in considering the following specification and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my container as assembled;

Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view lshowing the relation of the parts of the novel container;

Fig. 3 is a view of several containers in stacked relation, with the uppermost container illustrated in section as along the line 3 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating the stages of assembling the relative parts of the container;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view showing how air is eX- pelled prior to sealing engagement of the parts, and

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating the taper of the sides.

Attention is directed to the drawing wherein like char- 4 by any suitable machine.

Patented Jan.` 6, 1959 acters of reference represent like parts throughout the several figures and referring now to Figs. l and 2, a container 10 is represented as having a body or can portion 12 and a cover portion 14.

The can portion 12 comprises a bottom Wall 16 and a frusto-conical upstanding side Wall portion 18.

The cover element comprises a top wall 20 and a dependingfrusto-conical side wall portion 22. The lower peripheral edge of the wall portion A22 is rolled as at 24, and is provided with notches 26 permitting finger engagement with the side wall portion 18 which defines an open top end of the can 12 when the can and cover are in telescoping assembled relationship.

Intermediate the notches 26, there is provided in the side Wall 22 which defines an open bottom end a plurality of abutmnt engaging leg elements 27.

The frusto-conical walls 18 and 22 are complementary and preferably have a taper, angle A in Fig. 6-, of less than about 10 from the perpendicular. angle of 2 to about 4 works very well in practice.

The cover 14 is made deeper than the can 12 in order that the rolled edge 24 may project below the bottom 16 of the can 12 when the parts are in telescopic assembled relation, as shown at 2S in Fig. 3.

In use, the cans 12 are lled with suitable desired material 30 to approximately the upper edge of the wall 18, as will be apparent from the upper portion of Fig. 3. The can and cover may then be assembled manually or In assembly, the can 12, with the contents 30, is placed within the cover 14 and moved upwardly, as shown in Fig. 4, the full lines showing the initial assembly position and the dot-dash line showing an intermediate position. When the parts reach the position indicated at 34 in Fig. 5, there is full peripheral surface engagement between the complementary frustoconical portions 18 and 22. At any time prior to reaching this position, as at position 36 shown in dash lines in Fig. 5, there is clearance between the cover and the can. This clearance permits expulsion of air as the can enters the cover and provides ay minimum of air space 38 between the contents of the can 12 and the top wall 20. There is substantially no compression of air above the contents, as the engagement of the cover with the can is instantaneous, and therefore the parts may be assembled rapidly, as by machine, without any tendency to be thereafter forced apart by compressed air.

When assembled in sealed relationship, the container is sufliciently airtight to prevent evaporation of any volatile components of the contents, since by reason `of the tapered construction, a relatively large sealing area mayl be provided. Furthermore, the tapered construction not only affords an instantaneous engagement of the parts for sealing the container, but also provides for an instantaneous disengagement of the parts, whereby they may be readily -separated by tapping the rolled edge 24 of the skirt portion of the cover 14 against a table, counter, oor or other suitable object, such as the surface S shown in Fig. 5. Reassembly can be accomplished by pressure in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 4.

I regard the tapered wall construction as an important feature of my invention, since it provides an ample substantially instantaneous means for sealing the container, which means permits the container parts to be readily disassembled.

Another important feature of this invention is the ability to stack the containers as illustrated in Fig. 3. The parts are made of relatively light gauge metal, and with a satisfactory taper, the top of the cover 14 of one container will fit within the bottom rolled edge 24 of the cover 14 of another container as shown.

Since the leg elements 27 of the side Wall 22 extend below the bottom of the can 12, when in assembled posi- I find that an tion, the can may be dropped onto a table or other surface, such as S, in Fig. 5, to break the seal of the assembly.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention, I desire it to be understood that various changes or modifications may be made within the scope of the claim hereto attached without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

A container comprising telescoping can and cover elements, said can element, having a bottom portion and an upstanding frusto-conical Wall portion defining an open top end, said cover element having a top portion and a depending frustoconical wall portion defining an open bottom end, said wall portions having a substantially common longitudinally extending axis generally V normal to the top and bottom portions with the wall portion of the can element tapering toward said axis and toward the open top end, the wall portion of the cover element diverging away from said aXis toward the open bottom end, said wall portions being substantially contiguous and disposed in generally parallel relationship when said can and cover elements are positioned in concentric relation to each other during assembly of the container to form an instantaneous seal therebetween over substantially the full height of the Wall portion of the can element when the Wall portions are moved Cfr axially of each other and brought into frictional engagement on assembly of the container, said Wall portion of the cover element extending from the top portion thereof beyond the bottom portion of the can element and terminating in a lower edge which projects below the bottom portion of the can element when the elements are in assembled relation to enable the instantaneous breaking of the seal and disassembly of the elements by tapping the said lower edge against a solid surface.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS ma r. 

